Hamilton College football team 'making progress'

Ben Birnell

Wednesday

Sep 12, 2018 at 8:07 PMSep 12, 2018 at 8:09 PM

CLINTON — It has been a tough road for the Hamilton College football team.

There’s the extended stretch of futility for the 126-year-old Continentals program, which has finished with back-to-back three-win seasons and has not had a winning campaign since 1996 as members of the tough New England Small College Athletic Conference.

But there's also reason to believe there are better days ahead.

This is head coach Dave Murray’s fifth season on The Hill, and this is the first season each player on Hamilton’s 75-man roster is part of the recruiting efforts of Murray and his staff and has led to more “quality” experience and depth.

Murray, whose Continentals opening the season hosting Tufts at 1 p.m. Saturday at Steuben Field, also believes this year's team has more speed on both offense and defense.

“We’re making progress, for sure. We’re heading in the right direction,” said Murray, who is among the most successful coaches in Division III after accumulating 151 wins in stops at Alfred University, Lebanon Valley College and Cortland State. “(The NESCAC) is kind of divided into two tiers. Right now, we’re kind of in between the two tiers and our next step is hopefully to break into the top tier.

"That’s where we want to get.”

How does Hamilton College take the next step?

“Having guys that know what they’re doing and trusting our coaches more is going to be huge for us,” said junior quarterback Kenny Gray, who missed time with an injury last season and is one of 10 returning offensive starters. “A lot of … those close games will turn around for us.”

Hamilton, looking to win a season opener for the first time since 2011, suffered a blow with the loss of former Whitesboro star Tyler Hudson. The first-team all-NESCAC selection is expected to miss the season with a torn ACL suffered in the offseason. Hudson, a linebacker who led Hamilton with 92 tackles last season, “can’t be replaced,” Murray said.

Hudson, expected to return in 2019, is a captain along with Gray, center Micah Balogh and linebacker Cole Burchill.

“It’s really unfortunate,” said Burchill, one of nine returning starters on defense. “(Tyler is) like having three guys on the field because he’s all over the place. We just need to have guys step up.”

Improvement will be needed from a defense that allowed more than 400 yards and 28.1 points per game last season, Murray said.